So This is 50 – 9 Weeks to Go

It’s Sunday as I write, sitting on my flight heading back to Noosa. The plan is to have a big couple of days riding some of the course again. I will be joined by fellow Thrive team members and UltraMan 2020 athletes Markcus Brown & Chris Pye a little mini training camp. Jase was planning on being there with us but has arrived back from New Zealand a little under the weather, so he didn’t get to make the trip. We will also be joined by former Thrive member Becca Fellows who is visiting AUS from the UK, she was part of the UltraMan crew in 2018 when Jase completed the event. The plan is to ride approx. 12 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday, and then back it up with a long run on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how the legs and butt cope. I haven’t talked about how my butt is coping, wasn’t really sure anyone would be interested, but incase you are concerned about my posterior, it’s been going okay. starting to get a bit over all the long rides, but coping. In preparation for the big rides coming up, I have done very little cycling this week. There has been more of a focus on running, I have had my biggest run week to date, this week I have completed 61kms. My run training still consists of interval sessions, 1km run and 100m walk, all within an easy Heart Rate Zone 2, this seems to be working for me, and fingers crossed I stay injury free. My longest run is still only 20km, but Saturday was another double run day, 20km in the morning and then another 11 km in the afternoon. I felt great after my 20km morning run, and could have easily kept going, promising signs, as come race day, I would still have another 64km to run, that sounds freaking crazy when you think about it, well crazy to me anyway. I mean who thinks of these distances and why is It that people like me want to complete them? Well I have already told you my reasons why I want to complete this epic event but when I stop long enough to think about it, as I said before, it sounds freaking crazy!! Best I not stop and think about it anymore. When I do think about what my biggest fear is for the race, it is still the 10km swim. It is not the distance that has me worried, it’s the open water. I still remember my first open water swim in the lake at Shepparton 6 years ago, I FREAKED OUT, I am sure my reaction was totally hilarious for those swimming with me, it came out of the blue. I honestly was not even concerned about open water swimming, until I jumped in the murky Vic Lake waters and put my head under the water, total panic. I probably resembled a dog being thrown into the water for the first time, panicked and doing a frantic paddle while trying to regain some composure and breath. I did overcome that, and have no problems at all swimming in the lake now, it doesn’t even worry me when completing ocean swims at events, most of those events are with another 1000 people though, Ultraman will see 50 of us with our support paddler spread out over the swim course. I guess my theory at the moment is, that if I verbalise my fears, it will help me to overcome them.

Busselton IM Practice Swim Session #nosharks

This Weeks Training

My week has been fairly hectic, my current workload has been mentally draining, thankfully my job is not physical as well. I have also had some family issues with Miss 22 being unwell, although she is big enough to care for herself, you never stop worrying about your babies. So luckily my training plan had less hours this week. Monday morning was a 10km run followed by a 4km lake swim in the evening. Tuesday morning a 65km ride, Wednesday morning a 3.1km pool swim in the morning followed by a 13km run in the evening. Thursday morning another 8km run and an indoor bike session that evening. Due to poor sleep on Thursday night, I skipped the swim session Friday morning and didn’t get to squeeze it in at all. Saturday was my double run day, total of 31km completed for the day. Sunday another rest day, flying back to Noosa.

Training Hours – 13

Swim – 7km

Bike – 101km

Run – 62km

Workouts – 0

So this is 50 – Food for Thought

It is just under 10 weeks now till Ultraman Australia, my training has been going close to plan. A couple of tiny setbacks – sore calf and a sore groin, but I was able to manage these, by taking a rest for a week once I knew they weren’t going to just go away. When I say rest, I was still swimming and riding, but I had backed off the running. My current volume of training has been pretty high, and I don’t feel like there is any signs of grumpy Shaz as yet……ALTHOUGH after my long ride on Saturday, 160kms I was just hungry, borderline hangry, I just wanted to eat and have my coffee, I am pretty sure if I didn’t get some sustenance asap, there was a possibility Grumpy Shaz was about to rear her ugly head. I did fuel for my ride, I am currently trialling rice cakes on my long rides, a recipe from Nigel Mitchell ex head of Nutrition at Team Sky and current nutritionist for Education First. The rice cakes are pretty much tasteless but are easy to eat and fairly easy to carry with you, I just need to work out how to wrap them better. They are very easy to make, rice, water, coconut butter, coconut oil, sugar and vanilla essence, throw it all in the rice cooker, once cooked set it in the fridge and then slice up into squares once cooled, providing plenty of carbohydrates for my ride. I normally make date and nut balls for long rides and I plan on trialling some salted roasted potatoes soon also, I think it will be important to mix up the food that I am taking in come UltraMan, especially Day 2, 280kms on the bike, making sure there is a good mix of sweet and savoury options. I also love a good peanut butter sandwich on my ride, of course using my favourite sourdough from Higgins Bakery, I think I will have to take a few loaves up to Noosa with me for the event. I think fuelling on the bike ride will be fairly easy. I am starting to worry about what food I will be able to take in on day 3 for my 84km run. I am currently up to a 20km long run on weekends, so will have to start trialling some nutrition soon. I guess come UltraMan it will just be a case of getting in what I can, I imagine that I will need to have lots of options available, as you just never know what will work come the day, it will be pretty hard to try and simulate now how my body will react to food on day 3 after 2 huge days. Nothing to worry about now, but just need to be aware of this, and my team will also need to be aware as they will most likely have to force me to eat something while running. Food intake in our house is mainly plant based, I have very little processed foods in the house, Jase is 100% plant based, I am vegetarian, I still eat eggs and butter. Of course I try and buy organic where possible, eggs are just such a convenient source of protein, and it is so easy to go out for breakfast and I know I am getting all my nutritional requirements, we find that most cafes don’t provide enough options for plant based eating, sure you can normally just omit the eggs and cheese on most dishes, but they don’t add in a protein source. I will also need to plan the foods I will eat after each day of the event, recovery by the way of physical and nutrition will need to be on point in order to get up to face the next day.

Week 10

Monday I was back running around the Botanical Gardens in Shepparton – the only place where there is any elevation, so laps of the old tip site has been regularly on my plan, followed by a 5km swim in the Shepp Lake, my plan had a 4km swim, but as Fiona still had another 2 lengths to swim, I decided to swim them with her. Tuesday morning Fiona and I rode to Dookie and back in the morning, 3 hour ride complete while catching up on all the news. Wednesday morning a 3.3km swim session in the pool followed by a 12km run that evening. Thursday morning was another run session, just over 8km and I completed an indoor bike session in the evening. Friday was another 5km swim, this time in the pool, no swim drills, just freestyle for the whole session. Saturday morning was my long ride, 160km, not sure exactly why, but this ride took me just over 20 minutes longer than it has for the past few weeks, maybe it was just one of those days. I felt pretty fatigued after my ride, and I still had an indoor bike ride to complete in the afternoon. Don’t exactly know how or why, but after the 30km indoor session, I felt ontop of the world, totally rejuvenated. Just over 190km for the day in the saddle. Sunday was my long run, I went back out to the Botanical Gardens and ran quite a few laps around the circuit, I lost count of how many laps I did, a freaking lot, 20km ran for the day. I am still feeling pretty good after my big week. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Swim – 13.3 km

Bike – 300 km

Run – 50 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 21:15 Hours

Lesson Learned: A bad start to the day can always be turned around.

So this is 50 – My Motivators

Last Week I was asked to answer the following question in my blog “what motivates me to keep going?” After being so pumped last week to answer this, I have found it a little more difficult this week to think about it. In week 1 I touched on the fact that I am doing this event BECAUSE I CAN, something that really touched me deeply to want to be healthy was my mother’s illness, she suffered from COPD for many years. When the doctors finally sent her to the Alfred Hospital to be assessed for a lung transplant, she was so unwell and unfit that she could not pass the first test before getting on the transplant list, she needed to do a 6 minute walk test, it didn’t have to be fast and she didn’t need to go a certain distance, she just needed to walk for 6 minutes, she couldn’t, her health had deteriorated so badly. I tried to help her from there, I was able to get a treadmill in the house, one that she could easily get on while still connected to her oxygen, but she was still unable to progress, she just had too many health problems at this stage, and there was no way she could get the lung transplant without a base level of fitness, as she would not survive the recovery. This was a cruel lesson in the importance of looking after your health for me. This week has been 3 years since her passing. So, my mother’s health problems played a major role in me wanting to be healthy, and I started my journey 6 years ago as a result.

Less than 12 months into my journey, my father was diagnosed with cancer, and given 3 months to live, he was 65 and had just retired. Most of my childhood memories of my father were of him going to work at 6 am in the morning and not coming home till after 6 at night, he was dedicated to his work and had finally found joy in his retirement, had moved up north to a caravan park by the water and was absolutely loving life, until he received the bad news. So within only a few months of retirement and moving away, he was back home in Shepparton to be near family and treatment, all to no avail. My father’s death taught me to not wait to do the things you love, live your best life now. I find that when I am racing, I quite often draw on strength from their battles, telling myself that I am only enduring a few hours of discomfort, they both endured so much more. So, as you can see, my parents inspired me to start my health journey, and to endure, but I am inspired by so many others now also. I find myself surrounded by people who are out there living their best life. I am inspired by every one of them. Some may be on a different path to me, but they are challenging themselves, setting goals and enjoying their lives now. Their goals might be their first 21km run, a trail run in the mountains, mountain biking, or a weekend away riding with their girlfriends. Whatever their goals, they are doing it NOW. Jason is also a huge inspiration to me, I wish I had the physical ability that he does, I know I have the desire! I also love listening to podcasts or audio books while I am running. There are some crazy people out there who have done some amazing things, alot of which are not for me, but they make me feel like anything IS possible. I try to surround myself with positivity, and while sometimes everyone gets a little down, or is in need of inspiration, or is even searching for a motivator to help with an insecurity, I find strength in the people around me and the audiobooks I listen to. And I try to smile often, you know, it’s contagious, there is nothing better than being greeted by someone who is smiling, it can instantly change another person’s demeanour.

Week 8

Monday was another open water swim with the tri club. 3km in the Vic Lake.

Tuesday, I had a 1:20 run planned at the botanical gardens, for some hill repeats, after 6.5km I could start to feel some tightness in my groin, so cut my run short. Last week’s run training has taken a toll.

Wednesday was a 5km swim in the pool, while I would have much rather have completed this swim in the Lake, in my wetsuit, I did as was planned. After all, training isn’t meant to be easy. Breakfast has never tasted so good after that swim! (yes, I had sourdough!) That night I continued with the indoor bike session and did another Threshold build set. Thursday, I had another run on my plan, my groin felt fine, so I headed off for my run. 6km into the run I could start to feel the tightness and new I wouldn’t be doing a long run. Friday morning was a 3km swim, and I finally had some acupuncture treatment for my groin strain, a not so Happy Valentines day! The run training still the likely culprit for the soreness, with my back and hips the most likely cause due to the hills. Saturday was another long ride, thankfully the air was clear this week, we rode to Violet Town with a loop of the Hills and home again. Sunday is normally my run day, but I also know that I need rest to recover from the strain. So, I rode to Dookie and completed a loop of the hill circuit there before riding home. My legs are feeling much stronger on the bike, I just need to be able to get some consistent running happening. I was planning on racing at IM 70.3 Geelong next Sunday, but I am not sure if that is going to be achievable at this stage, will see how the run goes later in the week. Fingers crossed.

Swim – 11.4 km

Bike – 288 km

Run – 14 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 15:20 Hours

Lesson Learned: 2 steps forward, one step back, is still a net gain.

This Weeks Training block – hasn’t gone to plan 😦

So this is 50 – So, what was it that nearly broke me?

Week 7

I arrived back home Sunday night last week, there was a pile of washing in the corner of the room, and a pile of clean clothes downstairs to be sorted, I think I arrived home just in time, as Jase had gone through every pair of jocks and socks he had, his next option would have been to wash and sort his own, or start wearing mine… I should have stayed away longer to see what he would have done! It has been a pretty busy week, while I can work from anywhere, when home, I still need to go into some workplaces. Monday was a double swim day, both swims were open water swims in the Vic Lake, the water in the morning was so calm, quite different to the afternoon swim, a total of 6km for the day. Upon waking Tuesday morning, my arms were sore from the day before, I ran out to the Botanical Gardens for some hill repeats, late last year when these hill repeats were on my plan every week, I would run to the top, followed by a 30 second walk to bring my heart rate down, this week I found that I could run to the top, and did not need the walk break, I could continue to run, although downhill, and stay within my zone 1 heart rate, I guess this means that my fitness levels are increasing, as my heart rate recovers quicker after intense efforts. We have also decided that I need to incorporate more indoor bike sessions into my plan. While in Noosa I completed an indoor session while it was raining, and I immediately recognised how easy it is to slack off when riding outdoors, which was not going to be any benefit to me come UltraMan – no time to slack off on that bike course! So, Tuesday night was a Threshold Build session on the trainer.

Wednesday morning, I was back at the pool, my arms had recovered from my double swim on Monday. I love swimming with familiar faces around me, always wishing I could keep up with the swim kids in the lane beside me, before copping a backhander from one of them while they do their backstroke to quickly put me in my place, always followed by breakfast with my Tribe. That night Jase and I had planned to do a 3 hour ride at the hills around Violet Town, as it was getting late, we drove part of the way there, parked and rode the rest, a few hill repeats up Harrys Climb before heading back on our way home, 30 minutes from the car I started to feel every damn bump in the road, looking down I saw the back wheel with no air! We stopped to fix the puncture – when I say we, I mean Jase took over and I stood the required distance back, you know, that distance close enough to pass something and hear the mumbling, and far enough to avoid any tires being flung. Well the fixing process was not working, the inflator was not piercing the C02 cartridge, grrrrr. This meant that Jase had to ride the 30 minutes back to the car and then drive back to get me. So, what do you do when you have a 40-minute wait, on a deserted country road, at 7:30 at night? Well checking the emails and keeping up to date on any important social media issues was not on the cards, as my phone had 1% battery left. So, I did what any time poor Ultra-man wannabee would do, 1 legged squats, calf raises, stretches, and whatever other exercises I could think of! Gym Session Done!

Thursday morning, I woke with my glutes on fire…. hmmm, maybe too many squats the night before, I had nearly a 2 hour run to complete before heading into work, so needed to be off, no time to feel sorry for myself, downed my Fat Black Coffee and ran 18km around the much flatter trails and streets of Shepparton, finally a bit of relief for my legs. I arrived home, famished, so was looking forward to my breakfast. I quickly showered, while thinking of my poached eggs on sourdough with fresh spinach and avocado drizzled in olive oil, yum. Went to grab the sourdough out of the freezer and there was none left, now I know there was some in there yesterday, I could feel panic starting to set in, I was freaking hungry and on a time limit, I scanned the room, and that is when I noticed Miss 22, sitting on the couch eating my sourdough with avocado for her breakfast, my heart sunk, I paused, now this was either going to go down one of 2 ways, either I was going to throw a massive tantrum and Miss 22 was probably going to bear the brunt of it, or, I was going to walk away. After a quick pause, and biting my tongue, I decided on the second option, and retreated to the bathroom, deciding on getting ready for work and stopping at the café on my way to work to grab my breakfast, now although I didn’t have a hissy fit, I was sulking, for all of about 3 minutes, before Jase walked in and offered me half of his breakfast, after first refusing, I realised I really did need to get some nourishment asap. Crisis averted.

Friday, another swim session in the morning, followed by my indoor bike session in the evening. Saturday’s plan was to ride 6 hours, ride the 54km to Violet Town, do a 52km loop of the hills then ride 54km back home. We woke Saturday morning to see smoke haze, but decided to ride on anyway, we met Wendy and Scott in Violet Town, Wendy gave us some face masks to try, so we rode the hills with the masks on, our own little altitude training camp right there! We definitely noticed the breathing difference, each breath was quicker, added with the hill climbing made for an interesting experience. I was pretty happy with my loop of the hills, I recorded my fasted climb and my fasted descent to date, I think all the training up north has paid off, but I am very mindful that the hills around here are nothing like the hills of the UltraMan course. Sunday was a much-needed sleep in, 7:30 we rose, consumed our Fat Black Coffees and loaded up on some protein porridge, before driving over to Mt. Major to run some hill repeats, the weather here in Victoria is much more favourable for training in, not nearly as hot or humid as QLD thankfully, although I am sure I benefited greatly from my few weeks of training up North. Run completed, we headed back home, had lunch, and not long after I headed out for another run, Sunday Funday Double Run Day! Week 7 Training completed!

This week I have had a question, about what motivates me to keep going, I have had a couple of days to ponder how to write this and will share with you next week.

Swim – 12 km

Bike – 300 km

Run – 50 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 20 Hours

Lesson Learned: Stop and breath – before talking 😉

So This is 50 – Hills WILL be my friend

We had most of our week in Noosa again. I was familiarising myself to the bike and run course. Although I had crewed for Jason in 2018, I really could not remember most of the actual course that was ridden and ran. As a crew member, my job at the time was to keep Jason’s nutrition delivered. Easy right? well not really. Along with Chris and Sarah on Day 1, it was a matter of Chris driving, Sarah navigating and me, preparing the nutrition for the next point that Jason had requested, we very quickly realised that this was not the easy job that we had signed up for. It’s hard to explain exactly why, I guess you have to be there to experience the frenzy that it is. As crew members for Jason, we were lucky that our days were short in comparison to the other crews on course. Jason finished Day 1 (10km swim and 140km bike) in 6:47, Day 2 (281km bike) in 7:52 and Day 3 (84.3km run) in 7:07!! Lightning quick times, I realized on my ride during the week, that my crew are going to be out there for a long time. The cut-off for each day is 12 hours, and while I hope to finish each day before the cut-off, the reality is, it is going to be a hell of a long day for everyone. My crew will not only have to make sure that I have the nutrition that I need on the course but will need to make sure they themselves are fed and hydrated. A small consolation might be that it might not be the mad rush as it was with Jason. In 2018, Sarah would stand a hundred metres behind the parked van, and pass the bidon, with Chris at the van, in-case anything was missed, and me standing 100 metres past the van to pass any food, by the time we gathered back at the van, refilled any bidons, and grabbed the food we needed for the next stop, it was time to get back in and drive to the next handover point. Most of the time we made it to the next location with only minutes to spare. You can probably start to understand the craziness that it was. I am much more understanding; I won’t put the same pressure on my crew…. I will give them much more time between handover points on course….

Week 3

This week I ran a few runs along the course. The 84.3km run is from Noosa to Twin Waters back to Noosa, so is not a flat run course, which I knew, but it hit home more when I actually ran along it, especially coming from Shepparton where you have to drive at least half an hour to find any hills. I need to make sure that I start on my strength program and continue to drive to find those hills. Jason and I rode some of the Day 2 bike course on Thursday, we rode 140km with a total of 1600m of elevation, which took me just under 6 hours to complete. I didn’t quite make it up one of the climbs and had to walk the last 200m to the top, I think it was a combination of bonking and not having enough gears on the bike, the temperature and humidity were quite high, and I am sure I was dehydrated due to the sweating. I also need to change the cassettes on my bike to a 34 on the front and a 30/32 on the back. On the day of the actual Ultraman event, I would still have another 140km to ride, although there would only be another 400m of elevation. So, with the accumulated fatigue in my legs, some dehydration, wrong gearing and very high temperatures, it made for a very long bike ride, again finding myself questioning if I can actually achieve this. When we arrived in Eumundi, (20km from home) I would have easily jumped in an UBER to get home, I say that at the time, but I know how disappointed I would have been with myself if I actually did. I can tell you that by the time we rode back to Noosa, showered, ate, rested, ate again, rested and ate again it was time for bed. I wasn’t quite sure how my legs would recover from the ride, but I woke up the next morning and completed my run. My legs felt fine. That gave me a HUGE confidence boost, I know I can still do this. We arrived back at Shepparton on Saturday, completed a quick swim, and went over to Violet Town to ride some hills on Sunday. We have been lucky to be in Queensland the past 10 days, so I have not realised how smoky it has been here in Victoria, even though the haze wasn’t that bad on Sunday, once we stopped riding you could definitely feel the scratchiness in your throat. So, I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it won’t be too bad this week.

Week 3

Swim – 8.3 km

Bike – 294 km

Run – 34.6 km

Gym Sessions – 0

Training Hours 19:00

Lesson Learned: Stay hydrated and fed

So This is 50 – A New Year

I first experienced UltraMan in 2018, when my partner, Jason Shields took on the epic event. At the time, I knew nothing of UltraMan, just that there were 50 somewhat crazy people taking on a 3-day event that Jason had done a shit load of training for, hours of bike sessions and double run days, and swimming many km’s in the Vic Lake. I was recovering from a bike accident at the time so felt very useless having had surgery on my shoulder, so I was unable to support him on any of his rides. With all the preparation done, we arrived at Noosa the week of the race and made our way to the athlete registration. I recall being greeted by an energetic person, welcoming us to the Ultraman family, and quickly telling Jason, “this event is better than any Ironman”. I had no idea who this eager and overly enthusiastic person was at the time, but I remember thinking ‘no way’, we had just arrived after watching friends compete at Ironman Australia, I really doubted that this experience could ever top that. The registration process included making sure athletes had any questions answered with plenty of information given out, with maps of bike and run courses on display and volunteers spending many hours answering any questions. This all seemed like a lot of information and we still had the athlete welcome and breakfast information session to attend the next day!!! I was thinking at the time that this was a bit of overkill really, I mean, this isn’t even an Ironman event. We made our way to the breakfast the next morning, dragging our feet, thinking we had better things to do the day before the race, I mean what else did they really have to tell us!!!! At the breakfast information session, we were introduced to the “DREAM TEAM” the team that make this event happen. Again, I didn’t appreciate any of this, but I busily made any notes on the folder of information that they had handed out to each athlete, as I was part of the crew for Jason, even with only one arm, I had to be part of his journey. That is the thing about UltraMan, everyone is part of the journey, sure the athlete does all the REAL work, but they are supported by their crew. This crew is responsible for making sure their athlete has everything they need, keeps them calm between race days, and delivers their nutrition on course. Oh, and tries not to get lost navigating…..

Week 2

This was going to be another busy week, with New Years at the start of the training week, we headed up to Noosa on New Year’s Day, part holiday part training camp, with a big week of training planned we had no time to rest once we arrived, so we unpacked the bikes and headed out on a ride to Garmin Hill, a few hill repeats and then back home, finishing off with a 3km swim at the Noosa Aquatic Centre, I am still not comfortable swimming by myself in the open water, something that I am not sure I will overcome quickly. With the temperature in Noosa hitting 30 degrees by around 10am and humidity at 100%, again it was a matter of getting any training sessions done early in the morning and later in the afternoon. Another ride the next morning, with hill repeats on the plan, apparently, I need to get my legs stronger, these are the words of wisdom from the voice of reason, my coach and partner – Jason. Friday, we headed out for a 2-hour ride along the David Low Way, a ride that I have done a dozen times before, we turned for home after an hour, and OH MY LORD, my legs were sore. I started thinking about Ultraman, and how this was home straight of Day 2, the last 26km of 281kms, If I was finding this hard now, imagine how hard this is going to really be after riding 260km! WHAT HAVE I GOT MYSELF IN FOR! Holy Crap, I have a lot of work to do. With a long ride and run still on my plan, and really doubting myself, I made sure I was hydrated, rested and well fed for the rest of the week. Saturday, I ran, it was a slow pace, I tried to stay in Zone 1, but with a few hills, and nearly 30 degrees heat, it’s pretty hard to achieve. I drank plenty of Coconut Water and ate well for the rest of the day in preparation for my 5 hour ride the next day. The plan was to ride most of the Day 1 Bike course, try and get to the second climb past Kin Kin and come home. Sarah volunteered to come along on the ride, although she had not completed a ride longer than 2 hours for many months. Sarah is the wife of fellow Ultraman wannabee in 2020 Chris Pye. I promised it was just going to be an easy ride, as my legs felt trashed, I wasn’t even sure I would make the climb. I am happy to report, that I completed the first climb, my legs had somehow recovered, and I felt none of the soreness from a few days earlier. We headed for home, I was feeling somewhat relieved, knowing that yes, I still have a lot of work to do, but I think I can do this!

Week 2

Swim – 9.8 km

Bike – 301 km

Run – 37 km

Gym Sessions – 0

Training Hours 19:27

Lesson Learned: It won’t always feel easy!

Sarah and me pretty happy with our 5 hour ride

So This is 50!

For those that don’t know, I decided that Ultraman would be my goal for 2020. My gift to myself for turning 50! I have watched many friends of late, jump from a perfectly good aeroplane, for no reason apart from having a Big “0” Birthday, most with a young adrenaline junky strapped to their back, I have even seen footage of one vomiting mid-air!! At least I am staying on the ground, although there could be vomiting…..So, what is Ultraman? It’s a three-day event, consisting of the following.

Day 1 – 10km Swim, 140km bike

Day 2 – 281.1km bike

Day 3 – 84.3km run

Each day is to be completed in the 12-hour cut-off. The event is held annually at Noosa in May and is only open to 50 athletes who meet the qualifying criteria. Why? I hear you ask, I have many reasons to want to complete this epic event. My number 1 reason is, BECAUSE I CAN! Honestly, I know there are so many people who don’t have the physical ability to do anything remotely like this. Both of my parents have had their lives cut short and were not able to live their life to the fullest, either due to many years of ill health, or work commitments, I don’t want to be like that, I want to live my best life, by being active and having a healthy mind, body and soul and discovering what my body is capable of.

I hope to be able to complete a weekly training diary, sharing any lessons learnt along the way and who knows, it might even prove to be therapeutic to sit and reflect on the week that was.

Week 1 Ultraman Journey – So this is 50

It has been 3 weeks since completing Ironman Busselton, the body has pulled up okay, I went to Busso with the plan of nailing my nutrition and having my best run, I achieved 1 of the 2. My run was the worst run I have had to date, still trying to work out the cause of the cramps that I consistently seem to suffer in races.

Training wise this has not been an easy week at all, it has been a huge week of celebrations, Day 1 was my 50^thBirthday, something that I have been in denial about for a while, not really sure why, it just sounds old, but you know what, the day came and went, and nothing really changed, I still woke up with the same desires and same fitness levels, my body had not morphed into a sack of uselessness. I know, you’re as shocked as I am, so, bring it on! With my birthday, Christmas, followed with Jason’s birthday all in one week, it was a matter of fitting in what training sessions I could and trying not to blow out by overindulging with food and drink. There has been another factor contributing to harder training sessions this week, and that is the weather, it has been freaking hot, so I have been trying to get my bike and run sessions done in the mornings. I have ventured over to the Dookie Hills to complete some running this week. I am keen to run on hills, so these sessions will be either Dookie or at the Botanical Gardens in Shepparton.

Saturday, my tri club had a fundraiser ride for a Life Member who is taking on a mammoth bike ride from Torquay to Adelaide, I changed my long ride to Saturday to fit this in, they were riding to Dookie, doing a loop of the hills and back to Shepparton, approx. 110km, I didn’t feel very comfortable on the ride from the start, there were 12 of us, I am not used to riding in large groups, most of my rides are done solo, or with 1-4 people, so when there was an option to not complete the hill loop, I took it and rode back with 2 others. After I returned, I felt disappointed that I hadn’t completed the full loop. It is not normally something that I have done in the past, (pulled out of a training session). It festered in my head for hours after, I am after all a typical Type A Triathlete. My training plan is normally completed each week with all planned sessions showing green, only reason for red (or a missed session) is if I am injured. For this reason, I decided that I need to be accountable, Hence this training diary. Let the journey begin.

Week 1 – 12 hours completed

Swim – 6km

Bike – 181km

Run – 21.7km

Gym – 0 sessions

Lessons Learnt – I remember why I don’t eat cabbage